A Fighter Pilot, Political Science Prof and Author with Opinions and a Weird Streak

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Why We Can't Make Wise Decisions

Democracy is a crude form of government. It requires a lot of disparate components to work together to enable a knowledgable electorate to make wise decisions. The people must be literate, of course. Then they must be active participants. They must inform themselves of the available alternative courses of action. They must understand the processes involve and the rationale of various choices. The electorate must understand the way their government is functioning. And in order to do those things they must have reliable and understandable information. Simple? Hardly!

Take this piece from the AM paper for example. Remember that in Texas we are less than four months from a gubernatorial primary election in which the Senator in question will be competing against the incumbent governor for the Republican nomination. Now, read:

Wow! How could Kay Bailey Hutchison possibly justify breaking with the party? The alibi that once the magic 60 had been reached it made no difference wouldn't balance losing the unity which signals that the Reid healthcare debacle is a totally Democratic Party responsibility. The excuse that it allowed the defense funding bill to move forward seems hollow since once the sixty vote threshold was passed, it would allow funding action regardless of KBH position. Bad news for Kay!

But, that's where the problem arises when seeking that informed electorate. I did something that not one in a million Dallas Morning News readers will do. I went to check on how KBH voted on the two cloture motions that came up in the last twelve hours. Those were the critical votes. Here's the record:

Scroll down to check the four votes in the early hours of Dec. 22nd. Two on cloture and two on other procedural folderol regarding Sen. Reid's folly. Hutchison was steadfast with the party on all of them.

What is the DMN trying to do? Why imply that Hutchison did something that her conservative base would staunchly disapprove? It can't be because the DMN is a fan of Gov. Rick Perry. They clearly aren't.

ThunderTales

About Me

Twenty-three years flying fast jets for the USAF, ten years doing computer software reviews for ZDNet, two books on my combat experiences plus the memoirs of Robin Olds, and a load of good memories about years in Europe, Asia and the US.